Disappearing Act
by Nessa191
Summary: The Doctor wants to take Rose to a new planet to explore. But he can't find her. When he does, will they get to the planet Elemis, or will something else spoil The Doctor's plans for a relaxing holiday?
1. Chapter 1

'Rose!' The Doctor called worriedly though the corridors of the Tardis.

'Rose, where are you?' He was met with silence. The Doctor had already checked, double checked and triple checked all the places she could be, including her room, the library, the pool and the wardrobe.

Yet she was no where to be found.

'Where have you gone?' The Doctor muttered suspiciously. Rose was definitely up to something. The last time he'd see her was when she wandered off after she got bored of all his cursing and blinding over the fact that he couldn't replace the dynamorphic generator without several new trachiod time crystals.

The Doctor regretted driving her away with all his technobabble. He hadn't seen her face in over 5 hours... Maybe she had fallen asleep somewhere?

The Doctor doubted that prospect. Rose preferred her bed. She always moaned over how much she wanted it whenever they were in a tight spot.

_Maybe she's doing her laundry? _He thought as he turned on his heels and headed down to the utility room. But again she wasn't there.

The Doctor was beginning to think the worst had happened. Scenarios ran through his head of Rose injured somewhere, or kidnapped, or worse...

_Stop it._ The Doctor reasoned to himself. _You're letting your imagination get the better of you. There's going to be a perfectly logical explanation for Rose's absence. _He sighed and continued his search for his best friend. The truth was that he missed her. He needed her company.

Besides, he was planning on taking her to the planet Elemis, where the lakes looked like liquid mercury. She'd like that. He smiled at the thought.

The Doctor leant against the tumble dryer and began to daydream about his adventures with Rose, before realising with a start that he couldn't go anywhere until he discovered her whereabouts.

He strode out of the door and decided to check the drive systems' area of the ship.

These corridors were by far less maintained than the main living areas of the Tardis and The Doctor saw a set of footprints in the dust on the floor. They were Rose's. His muscles relaxed. Rose was safe, she was just exploring. The Doctor applauded her curiosity. He could locate her easily now that he had a breadcrumb trail to follow.

He pursued the impressions on the floor for several minutes. It was obvious that his companion had stopped to peek into several rooms before moving on. The Doctor smiled when he saw that she hadn't been tall enough to see through some windows and only her toe prints were visible in the dust where she'd gone on tip-toe. Obviously all the rooms down in this area were deadlocked for safety. Some rooms were overflowing with radiation. So she couldn't have gone into any of these areas. _Unless..._

A short way around the bend, Rose's track stopped. The Doctor looked through the window of the door she'd gone through and huffed in disbelief.

'Oh Rose.' The Doctor was disappointed. She'd found the Tardis' Amaranth, a small golden sphere designed to stabilise the Tardis in the time vortex. At this point The Doctor realised he was no closer to finding Rose. The amaranth had teleported her to a secure location. It had obviously detected too much irrationality in her thoughts and sent her away.

_Where is she? _The Doctor was beginning to tire of this. He liked playing hide and seek with Rose but this was on another level compared to their usual games. She had had no idea what the amaranth could have done. It could have sent her anywhere.

The Doctor retraced his steps back to the control room and leant against the console, deep in thought. Suddenly an idea popped into his head. _Of course! _He cursed his stupidity. _Why didn't I think of that before! _The Doctor turned and began a life sign search for Rose using the Tardis mainframe.


	2. Chapter 2

The Doctor ran like a mad man to the protyon unit in the sub-levels of the Tardis. The principle life sign scanner had indicated Rose was trapped in there, alive, but unconscious.

The Doctor worried. None of his companions had ever seen the protyon unit before, a room filled with the semi-sentient life of the Tardis. The walls were covered in eyes blinking on and off in binary. It could be quite disturbing to witness sometimes. However, the Tardis felt that that was where she would be most safe; therefore, The Doctor was going to have trouble getting Rose out.

As expected, the door had sealed itself shut for protection. No just dead bolted, but completely closed. A coral like substance had formed around the door seal, making it impossible to type in any code into the automated override circuit.

The Doctor ran his hands through his hair and thought quickly. There was no other way into the room except through that door. He looked around in sheer desperation. Suddenly, a crazy idea formed in his mind as he looked up to the ceiling to see a ventilation shaft. The Doctor raised an eyebrow. Well, it was the only way he could get to Rose...

Thirty minutes later, The Doctor had hooked a rope to an automatic pulley system he had devised from some old gym equipment, a door handle and four coat hangers.

Slowly, he scaled the wall and used the sonic to open the vent grill. Slowly, he clambered up into the shaft and crawled to the next opening. Sure enough, Rose was lying, unconscious on the floor of the proyton unit. The eyes continued to blink around her, almost like disco lights.

The Doctor dropped to the floor and checked Rose's vital signs. Satisfied she had no obvious injuries aside from a bump on her head where she'd hit the floor; he sat and stroked her hair. It was a rarity the he got to see his best friend like this and there was a peaceful quality about her, almost angelic, that The Doctor found very attractive.

He sat staring a while, until reality kicked in and The Doctor realised he still had to get the unconscious Rose out of the proyton unit and somewhere he could properly look after her until she woke.

Wrapping the rope around her waist, he scaled the wall and clambered up into the vent shaft once more. He sent a remote signal via his sonic to the pulley system, which began pulling Rose up into the air duct. When she was high enough, The Doctor pulled her in and hauled her limp body to the other side where he lowered her onto the floor.

The Doctor sighed in effort at his escapade and mopped his brow. He picked Rose up wit ease and carried Rose in his arms to the medical bay, where he tended to her bruises. About an hour later, she stirred and opened her eyes.

'Doc...Doctor?' she managed to croak before The Doctor shushed her. He was both angry that she put herself in danger and relieved that she was okay.

'You need to lie back down,' he said emotionlessly to her. She raised an eyebrow at him and reclined back on the table.

'How did I get here?' she managed to ask.

'Well, I carried you here, after I spent HOURS searching the Tardis for you, finding you unconscious, and pulling you through a ventilation shaft.' The Doctor looked annoyed. Rose feigned innocence and looked up at The Doctor with big brown eyes.

Inside, his two hearts melted, but outside, The Doctor maintained an air of aggravation.

'But I was only exploring...' Rose began to protest, but again The Doctor shushed her.

'Do you have any idea how much danger you put yourself in?' he asked rhetorically. His voice was laced with poison and Rose felt a pang of guilt in her stomach. She looked away.

'You touched the amaranth and it transported you somewhere else. You could have landed ANYWHERE!' The Doctor was raging now.

Rose recoiled at his out burst, but The Doctor continued reprimanding her.

'Do you know how many areas in this place that have dangerous amounts of radiation in them? Or those which are big enough to get lost for days in? This ship is as big as a planet, Rose! You could have gone anywhere and I'd never have found you again! And I don't know WHAT I'd do if I lost you...'

The Doctor trailed off in embarrassment, his cheeks flushing slightly at the realisation that he'd said too much. Rose looked up at him in surprise and he tugged at his hair as her gaze bore into him.

'I...I mean I promised your mother I'd look after you, and I cant do that if I cant find you..'

_Nice save Doctor, _he thought sarcastically.

Rose looked down again and mumbled an apology.

'I'm sorry, Doctor,' she managed to convey a vast amount of regret in such a simple sentence, and The Doctor realised he'd gone too far.

'Please,' he started. 'Just try not to touch any transporting orbs in future, Rose.' his mouth twisted into a knowing smile. He was playing with her.

'I won't.' She smiled back at him and The Doctor felt elated, pulling her into a great bear hug before hoisting her off the table and propping her up on her feet again.

'Seriously,' she said in a more sombre tone as they walked back to the control room, 'I won't be going anywhere that room ever again.' She shuddered at the memory of the blinking eyes.

'They freaked me out too much. What were they? I mean I know you said you have all sorts of things in this Tardis, but I didn't imagine something like that.'

The Doctor sighed and explained to her that the eyes were the proyton unit, the central cortex element of the entire Tardis. '_Like the brain' _he had described it.

'Rose, because you looked into the heart of the Tardis, she made a permanent connection with you. She sent you somewhere she could look after you. In a way, you should be flattered she thought you important enough to protect.' The Doctor said profusely.

Rose was more confused than ever, but she thanked the Tardis silently by stroking the central console lovingly, just as The Doctor did.

There was a moment of silence, where they both became absorbed in their own thoughts before The Doctor started suddenly and began twiddling buttons and pulling levers. Soon the Tardis began to judder and lurch as it normally did. Rose was pulled from her thoughts and back into reality when she realised that The Doctor was taking her somewhere new.

'So,' she called over the noise of the cloisters, 'Where are we going?'

Rose turned to The Doctor to find him already staring at her. He quickly looked away and back to the controls of the console before him. Rose thought she saw him blush, but the thought was shaken away as the Tardis continued to rattle through the time vortex, onto their next adventure.

'I can't tell you,' he said playfully. He had a manic look in his eyes and Rose could tell he was excited. She sighed and joined in with his game, which both exasperated and enthralled her all at the same time.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry, my chapter so far have been short, due to exam time but I'm enjoying writing this. Please review! I love hearing from people. Will update as soon as possible, I promise Love Nessa**

The Doctor just couldn't catch a break. The moment he thought he was safe; the universe threw yet another problem his way. This was evident when he opened the Tardis door. Instead of being greeted with the beautiful rolling hills, a big maroon sky and lakes of mercury and swirling silver, a scorched ground, charred remains of houses and the burnt stumps of trees was all he could see. His face fell. Realisation kicked in when he heard Rose's sudden intake of breath from somewhere behind him.

He turned to see her normally beautiful face torn in anguish at the sight before her. The Doctor quickly put his arms around her and drew her protectively to his chest.

'You shouldn't look, Rose,' he said softly, glancing briefly at the shrivelled bodies that littered the ground around them.

'I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to see something like this. This wasn't the surprise.' His apology comforted Rose, but did nothing to help the tears fall.

He led her back to the Tardis and produced an abnormally large handkerchief from one of his pockets. He sat in front of her and dried the tears that streaked her cheeks. His gentle touch startled Rose, but she didn't want him to stop. The Doctor's had lingered on her cheek longer than it should have and he found himself staring into Rose's beautiful eyes.

A voice deep within the recesses of his mind screamed at him to look away but he was captivated. After several moments, however, he broke away and focused his mind on other things, more important things such as why they had landed in such a despairingly awful place, and what he could do, rather than what was beneath Rose's t-shirt.

'Stay here, Rose.' He said to the blonde curled on his chair. The Doctor gave her his jacket for comfort and she snuggled into it like a child ready for bed.

'I'm going to look for survivors.' He announced, pulling on his long overcoat and slipping out of the door. Closing it firmly behind him, the smell of bonfires and barbeques assaulted his nostrils and he screwed his nose up at the unpleasant odour and set out to find survivors.

However, the further The Doctor ventured from the Tardis, this became more and more unlikely, as, delving into the destroyed cottages, he found nothing but ash and bones. Who ever had committed such a monstrosity had been extremely thorough.

After several hours of fruitless searching, The Doctor called it a day and headed back to the comfort of the Tardis, where Rose was waiting and the air was fresher. But as he turned, something struck his chest with force and he was thrown off his feet, landing in a painful heap several metres back. The small round object clung to his clothing and before he had time to realise what was happening, it expanded over his body, forming an inescapable net. The Doctor sighed as he heard the clamour of horse hooves approaching and realised he'd left his sonic in the jacket currently covering Rose.

'This is not my day,' he moaned as soldiers in gold armour surrounded him, their weapons loaded and ready to kill.

Clearly, these people didn't like survivors.


	4. Chapter 4

**Note to readers: At first I had no idea where I was going with this but have now drawn a rough plan of what's going to happen. This chapter is going to be short, but I will update with a new chapter on a more regular basis from now on. Tell me if you'd like another update and I will write and dedicate a small chapter just for you! Reviews on characters and suggestions are welcome Please let me know if I have any typos! It's my pet peeve!**

**Love Nessa**

As more soldiers dismounted their horses, The Doctor sighed, not for the first time that day, and waited to be reprimanded or threatened. It was always the same sort of spiel with these guys. He'd heard it all before.

Their leader, who, unlike the others, wore black, stepped forward and removed his helmet, revealing long dark curly hair and vivid yellow eyes, and stood, statuesque before The Doctor and spat out a right to silence at him with detestation.

'You'll remain silent and compliant as we take you to the Bastion for Crimes against the planet state of Kallesta by trespassing on newly acquired territory, and breaking the law set by the high council, that no individual shall interfere with the destruction of the city of Terradon.'

The Doctor grew bored, yawned and inspected his nails, whilst the leader droned on and on about protocol, and lay back under his net to admire the sky.

Before he knew it, he was dragged roughly to his feet and pulled face to face with the stoic, yellow eyed man, who regarded him, repulsed.

'Oh, are you not done?' The Doctor asked casually, earning him a sharp prod in the back with from a guard's rather large assault rifle.

The man raised an eyebrow and smirked.

'Not even close.' He smiled cruelly and turned, mounting his horse and beginning to ride away. The guards secured The Doctor's handcuffs and they began the long ride to the great Bastion city.

The ride was unpleasant on the back of a gruff soldier's horse, and after several hours of being jolted and shaken around over rough barren terrain left The Doctor with a headache and a bruised behind.

As they dismounted in the great expanse of black rock that was the Bastion, The Doctor nursed his aching posterior, and took in the sight of hundreds of enormously high glistening towers shimmering and sparkling in the sun. It truly was breathtaking, and for a moment, The Doctor was lost in the majesty of it all and reminded of his home on Gallifrey and the beautiful citadel he used to call his home, until he was jostled to a rather resplendent looking building by his captors.

It was made clear to him that he was spending the night in a cell, and as he sat in the glacial depths of the city jail, his thoughts turned to his Rose, sat waiting for him in the Tardis. She'd be so mad at him for not returning that any fear of his current predicament paled in comparison to feeling her wrath.

So, with lack of a sonic and anything fun to do, he sat and twiddled his thumbs until morning.


End file.
